Great Songs - On Terrible Albums

There are many, many terrible albums out there and some of them feature one or two great songs. What are your favorites gems in a sea of crap?

The one the immediately springs to mind for me is Judas Priest - "Reckless" from the terrible Turbo album.  Tacked on as the last track on the second side of the album, it's a notable departure from the rest of the cuts.  It's the kind of straight-forward heavy metal that Priest pioneered and became known for.  It was originally intended for the Top Gun movie soundtrack but did not make the cut and ended up on Turbo.  I'd like to hear it with a different production and without the synth-guitars, but I've always loved this song.

Like Whiskey Straight from Doro's Machine II Machine album. Such a great song on a disappointing album. Also, Unnatural Act from L.A. Guns American Hardcore album. That album sucked, but that song was pretty catchy & heavy.

Saxon - Crusader

First thing I thought of. What an incredible song! A heavy metal classic.

Megadeth - "Prince of Darkness" (from Risk)
W.A.S.P. - "Killahead" (from K.F.D.)
Savatage - "Hyde" and "Red Light Paradise" (from Fight For the Rock)

"Shadows" and "Zuid Afrikan" on REZ - Between Heaven & Hell

Fat Freddy wrote:

Megadeth - "Prince of Darkness" (from Risk)
W.A.S.P. - "Killahead" (from K.F.D.)
Savatage - "Hyde" and "Red Light Paradise" (from Fight For the Rock)

I kinda like "Crush 'Em" because it's a fun hockey barn song, though it would have been better coming from somebody other than Megadeth.

I recall "Reckless" being offered the soundtrack but Priest declined because then it had to be omitted from Turbo for some reason.

Lari wrote:

Saxon - Crusader

First thing I thought of. What an incredible song! A heavy metal classic.

Good call.

Although the album might not be terrible, it was by far the weakest thing they did up to that point otherwise. That song, though, would have left one to believe we'd be getting the best Saxon to date if they heard that song at the beginning.

Rock goddess young and free release...
Streets of the City...is only good tune.
Krokus, heart attack release....
Wild Love...is the true stand out...andLet It Go....
Fastway, s/t, Say What You Will....everything else is blah...
Ace, second sighting, Insaine...and Dancing with Danger
Saints And Sinners...lesson of love, takin my chances...
There were plenty of 80s releases that only had one or two.

Sword Of The Heretic wrote:

Interesting. I think that song blows, like all the other songs, except this one:



Such a great tune! But that album is dreadful otherwise.

I wouldn't say either Engine album is terrible, but they're not great by any means. This song, however, is fantastic.

Required Fields wrote:

Lari wrote:

Saxon - Crusader

First thing I thought of. What an incredible song! A heavy metal classic.

Good call.

Although the album might not be terrible, it was by far the weakest thing they did up to that point otherwise. That song, though, would have left one to believe we'd be getting the best Saxon to date if they heard that song at the beginning.

I'm not crazy about that album, either, but I love "Sailing to America." I like it better than the title track.

I think that song is pretty good, too.

"Set Me Free" is good, but the Heathen version is far better, in my opinion. Then again, I actually heard the Heathen version first.

Required Fields wrote:

I think that song is pretty good, too.

"Set Me Free" is good, but the Heathen version is far better, in my opinion. Then again, I actually heard the Heathen version first.

After hearing the orchestrated version of "Crusader," I can't go back to the original.

This song comes to mind for me. I first heard it on metal massacre V way back when and always loved it.

Fast forward twenty-five years later and I picked up a copy of the album it's on called Fun at the Funeral for about five bucks on eBay. it's by far one of the worse albums I've ever listened to. At least it was cheap...

On a whole this album wasn't that great but this song from it rocked..



another one that comes to mind is this song...a song from MASI

Clansman from Virtual XI - Iron Maiden

I've always wondered what this song would have sounded like had it been on Defenders

Though I enjoy "Watch the Children Pray",The Dark has a really flat production and the songs sound depressing to me for some reason.

Bride-Fist Full of Bees is mostly terrible, but i'll admit "Too Tired" is pretty catchy and not so bad if I close your eyes and pretend it's a Limp Bizkit song.

Quiet Riot-Stay with Me Tonight from the 1988 s/t

John Madden wrote:

Though I enjoy "Watch the Children Pray",The Dark has a really flat production and the songs sound depressing to me for some reason.

Topic with "terrible albums", and you first think of The Dark by Metal Church...

Metal church? Wow! Strange. The whole album smokes.